Colin Firth To Lead Coen-Scripted ‘Gambit’ Remake

It’s quite rare for the Coen brothers to write something and then not direct it. The only two examples are Crimewave, directed by Sam Raimi and The Naked Man, directed by Coen’s go-to storyboard artist J. Todd Anderson. We have another film to add to that list. The brothers wrote a remake of the 1966 British action comedy Gambit, which starred Michael Caine and Shirley MacLaine. With The Last Station’s Michael Hoffman attached to direct, Deadline now reports we have a lead.

Colin Firth, Oscar front-runner for the excellentThe King’s Speech, is in talks to star. Firth will play “a cat burglar who attempts to rob a billionaire of his priceless statue. He enlists the help of a waitress who looks exactly like the victim’s dead wife. The burglar’s usual precision is clouded by his relationship with his accomplice.”

Gambit aims to shoot in London and Texas before this summer. If you’ve never seen the original, you can get a 24-hour rental for $2.99 on Amazon On Demand. You can also view the trailer below and for more Coens in your life, see True Grit when it hits theaters December 22nd.